Of all the things that Demi Jones expected to come out of appearing on Love Island, a cancer diagnosis probably wasn’t one of them. But after leaving the villa she received a wave of messages from viewers concerned about a lump on her neck. After initially being told by doctors that everything was fine, she eventually received a diagnosis of thyroid cancer earlier this year.
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After having a golfball-sized tumour removed from her neck in April, Demi had further surgery to remove her thyroid in May. Now, she’s sat down with fellow ex-Islander Shaughna Phillips to update fans on her health and raise awareness about cancer and the importance of getting any lumps checked out.
Demi’s treatment
Speaking to Shaughna in a chat filmed for Cancer Research, Demi said:
I’m getting on with it really well. I’ve got some more treatment coming up over the next couple of months which is radiation treatment, just to zap away any of the remaining cancer cells. So thank god I found it now and even though I’ve got this scar it’s a small price to pay.
‘Can I talk to you about cancer?’
In the emotional chat, Shaughna also opened up about losing her dad to cancer when he was aged just 50. She said:
They told my mum and dad in the October he’s got about five months but they didn’t tell me that, I didn’t know that... he didn’t make it to Christmas, he died two weeks before.
The girls ended the chat by underlining the importance of raising awareness, with Shaughna saying:
One in two people will have cancer in their lifetime. So near enough every person that you know will have a story to tell about cancer. So why don’t we speak about it more? That needs to be like our aim in life. Can I talk to you about cancer?
